Brain Research 813Ž. 1998 167±171 Short communication Reduced binding ofw18 Fx altanserin to serotonin type 2A receptors in aging: persistence of effect after partial volume correction Carolyn Cidis Meltzer a,b,), Gwenn Smith a,b, Julie C. Price a, Charles F. Reynolds III b,c, Chester A. Mathis a,d, Phil Greer a, Brian Lopresti a, Mark A. Mintun a,b, Bruce G. Pollock b, Doron Ben-Eliezer a, Michael N. Cantwell a, Walter Kaye b, Steven T. DeKosky b,c a Department of Radiology, UniÕersity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA b Department of Psychiatry, UniÕersity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA c Department of Neurology, UniÕersity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA d Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UniÕersity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA Accepted 25 August 1998 Abstract The serotoninŽ. 5-HT neurotransmitter system, which has a widespread distribution in the central nervous system, has been implicated in regulating mood and many human behaviors. There is evidence from postmortem human studies and limited information from prior in vivo studies to support a decline in 5-HT2A receptor density with aging. We examined nine elderlyŽ. ages 61±76 and nine young Ž ages 18±29.Ž. healthy individuals with positron emission tomography PET andw18 Fx altanserin, a ligand with high affinity for the 5-HT2A binding site. The PET data were corrected for differences in brain tissue volume between the young and elderly subjects using a magnetic resonanceŽ. MR imaging-based partial volume correction method. Highly significant and widespread cortical reductions in 5-HT2A specific binding were demonstrated in the elderly group relative to young controls. Regional losses averaged 61% before and 57% following correction for effects of cerebral atrophy. This finding, which is consistent with prior postmortem and in vivo studies, has both etiological and potential therapeutic implications for behavioral changes commonly observed in the elderly, including geriatric depression. q 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Emission tomography; Serotonin receptor; Aging; Partial volume correction The serotoninŽ. 5-HT system is involved in the modula- for both 5-HT2A and dopamine receptor subtypes, in tion of mood and behaviors, such as sleep, that undergo tissue specimens of human frontal cortex. Autopsy studies characteristic alterations in agingwx 5,12 . Although there of the effect of aging on the human 5-HT2A receptor have are in excess of fourteen 5-HT receptor subtypes, the been limited by relative lack of tracer specificity, as well 5-HT2A is among the best characterized and the effect of as potential confounding factors intrinsic to postmortem aging on this receptor has been addressed in animal mod- studies, including issues of tissue handling, retrospective els and human postmortem studies. Robson et al.wx 18 subject characterization and the influence of concurrent found no age effect inw3 Hx ketanserin binding to 5-HT2A medical illness. receptors in rat cortex; however, others have demonstrated Initial positron emission tomographyŽ. PET studies reductions in receptor density and ligand affinity in post- demonstrating a decline in 5-HT2A binding with aging mortem human frontal cortexwx 1,4,7 . Similarly, Marcusson used tracers with affinities for both 5-HT2A and dopamine et al.wx 13 and Sparks wx 22 reported reduced density of D2 receptorswx 8,25 . PET radioligands that are more selec- binding sites forw3 Hx spiperone, a tracer with high affinity tive for 5-HT receptor subtypes were later developed and applied to investigate the influence of aging in vivowx 3 . In addition to the limited selectivity of ligands for the 5-HT2A receptor, no prior PET studies investigating aging changes ) Corresponding author. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PET in 5-HT receptor binding have attempted to correct for the Facility, B-938, 200 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2582. Fax: potential confounding effect that age-related cerebral vol- q1-412-647-0700; E-mail: [email protected] ume loss may have on PET measurementswx 23 . 0006-8993r98r$ - see front matter q 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0006-8993Ž. 98 00909-3 168 C.C. Meltzer et al.rBrain Research 813() 1998 167±171 Previous PET studies demonstrated thatw18 Fx altanserin confounding influence of gender on differences in 5-HT2A binds with high specificity and selectivity to 5-HT2A binding between the young and elderly subject groups was receptors in animals and humanswx 20 . Although radiola- minimized by excluding post-menopausal women on estro- beled metabolites ofw18 Fx altanserin appear to cross the gen replacement therapy. Although two of the young blood±brain barrier, these metabolites have been demon- women were taking oral contraceptive medication, no gen- strated to have no significant specific binding to the 5- der effects in receptor binding were detected in either HT2A receptor in vivo and, therefore, contribute to free subject group. radioligand concentration and non-specific binding only Radiosynthesis ofw18 Fx altanserin was performed accord- wx14 . Rosier et al. wx 19 recently reported an inverse correla- ing to the method of Lemaire et al.wx 10 . Dynamic PET tion between age and 5-HT2A binding in human brain scanning was performed over 90 min following bolus usingw18 Fx altanserin and PET. However, this study was intravenous injection of 10 mCi high specific activity restricted to mid-life individualsŽ. 24±48 years . In the Ž.G 1.04 Cirmmolw18 Fx altanserin using a Siemens current study, we usedw18 Fx altanserin and PET to deter- 951Rr31 tomographŽ. CTI PET Systems, Knoxville, TN mine the magnitude and regional distribution of age-re- in two-dimensional imaging modeŽ. septa extended . Head lated changes in 5-HT2A binding in a subject population movement was minimized through the use of a thermoplas- ranging in age from 18 to 76 years. These data are tic mask and headholder system. Arterial blood sampling presented both with and without an magnetic resonance was performed throughout the scanning interval for deter- Ž.MR -based correction for partial volume effects due to mination ofw18 Fx altanserin kinetics in plasma used in the differences in brain tissue volume between the young and calculation of radioligand distribution volumeŽ. DV from elderly subjects. regional time±activity data. A 10-min transmission scan Healthy young and elderly subjects were recruited was acquired using rotating rods of w68 Grxw68 Gax immedi- through the use of advertisements. Subjects with a history ately prior tow18 Fx altanserin injection and used for attenua- of significant medical burden andror history of neurologi- tion correction of the emission data. PET data were also cal or psychiatric disease, or first-degree relative with a corrected for radioactive decay and scatter. psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorder, were excluded MR imaging, performed on a Signa 1.5 Tesla scanner from study participation. Individuals using psychotropic or Ž.GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI using a standard other medications with known central effects, including head coil, was used to guide region-of-interestŽ. ROI selec- b-blockers, were also excluded. All elderly controls under- tion and for partial volume correction of the PET data. went a Mini-Mental State Examination to insure a mini- Following a scout T1-weighted sagittal sequence, a volu- mum score of 27r30, and Hamilton Depression Rating to metric spoiled gradient recalledŽ. SPGR sequence Ž TEs5, exclude depressive symptomatology. The study groups TRs25, flip angles408, NEXs1; field of views24 consisted of nine young healthy controlsŽ six women, three cm, image matrixs256=192 pixels. was acquired in the men.Ž. with a mean age of 23 years range: 18±29 years coronal plane. MR and PET image data were co-registered and nine elderly healthy individualsŽ six women, three using Automated Image RegistrationŽ. AIRwx 26 . men.Ž. with a mean age of 69 years range: 61±76 years . ROIs were hand drawn on the registered MR images Since postmenopausal decreases in estrogen levels may and selected for sampling of high, moderate and low contribute to alterations in circulating 5-HT and central 5-HT2A receptor density areasŽ. Table 1 . Regional time± 5-HT2A receptor densities in womenwx 2,6 , the potential activity data were averaged for paired right and left ROIs. Table 1 Regional binding potential estimates Region Uncorrected BP % Group Atrophy corrected BP % Group Young Elderlydifference Young Elderly difference Medial orbitofrontal 1.70Ž. 0.17 0.56 Ž. 0.14 ))) 67.1 1.97 Ž. 0.21 0.68 Ž. 0.18 ))) 65.5 Lateral temporal 1.65Ž. 0.16 0.59 Ž. 0.13 ))) 64.2 1.92 Ž. 0.18 0.80 Ž. 0.20 ))) 58.3 Anterior cingulate 1.70Ž. 0.19 0.53 Ž. 0.18 ))) 68.8 1.76 Ž. 0.25 0.62 Ž. 0.22 ))) 64.8 Occipital 1.69Ž. 0.46 0.81 Ž. 0.18 )) 52.1 1.84 Ž. 0.52 0.98 Ž. 0.23 ) 46.7 Parietal 1.63Ž. 0.29 0.65 Ž. 0.14 ))) 60.1 1.77 Ž. 0.36 0.82 Ž. 0.17 ))) 53.7 Lateral orbitofrontal 1.42Ž. 0.18 0.55 Ž. 0.14 ))) 61.3 1.65 Ž. 0.22 0.71 Ž. 0.19 ))) 57.0 Sensorimotor 1.29Ž. 0.21 0.52 Ž. 0.15 ))) 59.7 1.43 Ž. 0.27 0.68 Ž. 0.23 ))) 52.4 Amygalarhippocampus 0.84Ž. 0.06 0.27 Ž. 0.16 ))) 67.9 0.91 Ž. 0.09 0.31 Ž. 0.18 ))) 65.9 Striatum 0.39Ž. 0.09 0.19 Ž. 0.12 ) 51.3 0.41 Ž. 0.09 0.21 Ž. 0.13 ) 48.8 Logan-derived BP values are shown uncorrected and corrected for partial volume effects due to atrophy.